


I Bet My Life on You

by t0bemadeofglass



Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age of Ultron Speculative, F/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 13:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2695313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0bemadeofglass/pseuds/t0bemadeofglass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's the last chance that they've got when everything else goes to hell around them, but it doesn't make Natasha feel any better about them going to Loki for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Bet My Life on You

**Author's Note:**

> I mashed up the prompts "Nat and Loki meeting in AOU for the first time" and "This is the end of the world and we're all we've got," and I hope it came out well and not too anticlimactic! Thanks so much for reading and for prompting!

She’d heard they were bringing him in, but didn’t see what good Thor thought it would do.  Honestly, who said he was even going to help them, or that he’d be of any use?  He’d never had experience with this type of shit before--hell, none of them, save Tony who was rotting away in his basement looking for clues as though this could be solved that easily--knew what they were really doing.  Even Natasha felt out of her depth.  ‘ _This is monsters, and magic, and nothing we were ever trained for_.’  

“You’re sure this is going to work?”  She could hear Steve murmur from the other side, voice cracked.  They’d already lost Bruce, not sure whether or not he’d survived the explosion that Ultron had created in frigid Moscow, and it wasn’t looking so good for them finding Clint, either.  Steve was all she had while Thor and Stark were AWOL, and she didn’t know how much longer they’d have until the Twins caught up with them, either.  And Rhodey?  He’d gone to get the cavalry, and gotten hit in the process.  There hadn’t been time to check if he was alright.  She tried to remind herself of that, tried to stave off the guilt that ate away at her chest.  

“Steve none of us are sure of anything,” she said quietly.  “How can we be?”

He nodded his agreement, though the tight lines his lips had become spoke volumes about his disapproval.  Before anything else could be said between the pair of them light and movement rocked the precarious building they’d set up in, one of Nat’s old RR haunts that’d long since been abandoned once Hydra took over the Room.  She moved with a slight hobble over to the window and caught sight of green and gold standing just behind the monolith of red and silver, as two figures came into being right before her eyes.  Loki’s face was twisted in something resembling pleasure, likely at being free of Asgard, though if Thor was to be believed he’d been free for some time, play acting as keeper of the realm.  The thought made her stomach roll and clench almost simultaneously, and Steve muttered something that sounded like a prayer behind her.  They didn’t have much choice, not when this was all they had.  

“Let’s go,” she murmured, looking back to her Captain to find him pale faced and nervous.  He never got nervous.  “Hey, Steve.  Better the devil you know.” She assured him, pressing her hand to his shoulder once more and giving it a tight squeeze.  He nodded, clinging to her strength, letting it fortify him the way she’d once clung to him when her world had cracked and splintered around her, and together they headed out to meet the two brothers.  Along the way Natasha lost the vulnerability she’d shown Rogers, stiffened her upper lip as it was and did everything in her power not to focus on the pain in her leg as she evened out her gait.  She’d be damned if she let Loki see a fraction of her weakness.  

His eyes lit up when they caught her, thin lips pressed into a wide, near maniacal smile.  “Agent Romanov, I must say it is a wonder a Midgardian could be so lovely despite such great loss.”

Thor hit him hard on the shoulder and Natasha’s face remained impassive.  “You’ve been called down to consult and help if you’re even capable of it.” She said, tone stiff.  Unyielding.  His head cocked to the side, smile still firmly in place.  

“Is that what I am now?  Do I get to pick which hours I work?  Because I’m not quite certain if this is going to pan out for me--.”  

Damn her leg, she reached out for his throat and with a power that even Thor--even Nat--didn’t know she had she slammed him back against the building, sure she’d put a crater in it.  “Listen to me.”  She snarled.  Though she was a head shorter than he was, he craned his neck to watch her, eyes never moving from her own.  “You are going to help because you’re the last god-damn chance we’ve got at fixing this, and you owe us.  You owe everyone for all the shit you caused and all the people you’ve killed.  Inadvertently.  Intentionally.  You think your mother would want you to lip off when there’s people you could help?"  She demanded, feeling him jostle beneath her and only pressing him harder against the wall.  

He snarled, she silenced him with a glower.  "You want that to be your legacy, Loki?  Then fine.  Get back to your hovel on Asgard and hide.  Wait through the storm and forever be known as Coward.  I’m sure Frigga would be mighty pleased with how her son turned out.”  It was a low blow, and she was using everything Thor had confessed to her to twist against his brother, but it did the trick.  His eyes blew wide, cover blown, and as his lips parted to call her a fool, to tell her she didn't know what she was talking about, she pressed on.  “ _Or_.  You stay, and you make yourself useful for once.  Use those tricks and talents she passed on to you the way she would: _to help_.  Because we could really use, but we don’t _need_ you if all you’re going to do is lip off.  Got it?”  She pressed the bridge of her palm harder against his throat, feeling his pulse flicker.  She couldn’t kill him, not like this, and they both knew it.  So why was his heart beating so fast?  “Now.  What’s it going to be?”  

 

He was a greater help than she could’ve-- _would’ve_ \--thought, and when they’d all collapsed back in the Tower, exhausted but whole again, each of them pulling through and fighting to the last ounce of strength they had, she stole a glance towards him.  He’d taken his scepter back and his long fingers were tracing the edges of it, almost mindlessly, his gaze far off.  He was bleeding from a cut on the bridge of his nose, and though her muscles groaned in protest she stood and moved to the kitchen.  No one followed her, no one was even paying attention--hell, Clint and Bruce’s snores were filling the silence quite nicely--as she grabbed a rag and wetted it.  Her footsteps were silenced by the noise of the other two, so when she knelt down besides Loki he actually started once more.  

“How is it you somehow manage to keep taking me unawares?” He murmured, turning his head up to her, the deeper question still in his gaze.  She pressed the tip of the rag onto the cut, dabbing up the blood and cleaning it slowly, weighing her answer.  

“A spider makes no noise, that’s the point,” she murmured.  “But actions carry more weight than words and promises can ever make.  Thank you.”  She said, keeping her voice soft and sure that the slight smile that caught the corners of his lips and the tears that started and were quickly blinked away meant he’d understood.  She pressed her lips to his temple, unsure even why she’d done it, and he slumped against her small frame, spent.  Slowly, she wound one hand around him to keep him close, and allowed herself this small, tiny moment of peace.  They’d earned it.  

 

 


End file.
